Christopher Hill uses geologic and biologic methods to explore past and present environments, especially ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental change. His research and teaching is focused on the evolution of ecosystems and long-term biodiversity in North America, Eurasia, and Africa. Among Dr. Hill's 5 books are two editions of "Geoarchaeology" which was co-authored with Rip Rapp and published by Yale University Press. He also published "Mesozoic and Cenozoic Vertebrate Paleontology in the Western Plains and Rocky Mountains" which is an edited volume produced as part of the 61st annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Dr. Hill has published over 130 journal articles,chapters in books, and scientific abstracts in addition to technical reports and book reviews. Dr. Hill is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America (GSA). He has served in several administrative positions, including Chair and Secretary-Treasurer, for the Archaeological Geology Division of the GSA. Dr. Hill majored in Interdisciplinary Studies: Geology, Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Minnesota. His graduate work was at the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at Southern Methodist University, where he earned a Ph.D. focused on geological and paleoecological evidence for long-term environmental change in the Sahara Desert. Before joining Boise State University, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Tulane University and Associate Curator of Geology and Biology at Montana State University. Dr. Hill has served as a geomorphologist for the Combined Prehistoric Expedition, is a Registered Professional Archaeologist, and served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Mores Creek Rim Ranches Water District (Boise County, Idaho). At Boise State, Hill served as the Coordinator/Director of the Environmental Studies Program from 2007 to 2012. He was appointed Associate Dean for the Graduate College at Boise State University in 2012.
Articles
The Third Lake Cache, St. Louis County, Minnesota (with Susan C. Mulholland and Stephen L. Mulholland), Current Research in the Pleistocene (2011)
Alluvial Stratigraphy and Geoarchaeology in the Big Fork River Valley, Minnesota: Human Response to Late Holocene Environmental Change (with George Rapp and Zhichun Jing), Geological Society, London, Special Publications (2011)
The Late Quaternary geomorphology and stratigraphy of the Big Fork River valley, within the Rainy...
Stratigraphy and Sedimentology at Bir Sahara, Egypt: Environments, Climate Change and The Middle Paleolithic, Catena (2009)
Bir Sahara, situated in northeast Africa, contains a set of sedimentary sequences that imply episodic...
Geology of Mammoth (Mammuthus) Fossils on the Western Snake River Plain, Idaho, Current Research in the Pleistocene (2009)
Paleohistological Study of Pleistocene Mammoth (Mammuthus) Bone (with Margaret A. Streeter and Sean Prall), Current Research in the Pleistocene (2008)
Books
Geoarchaeology: The Earth-Science Approach to Archaeological Interpretation (with George R. Rapp) (2006)
Considering the history and theory of geoarchaeology, this book discusses soils and environmental interpretations; initial...
The Merrell Locality (24BE1659) & Centennial Valley, Southwest Montana: Pleistocene Geology, Paleontology & Prehistoric Archaeology, Faculty Authored Books (2005)
Mesozoic and Cenozoic Paleontology in the Western Plains and Rocky Mountains, Occasional Paper No. 3 (2001)
This volume contains papers on the geology and paleontology of the Upper Cretaceous of Montana,...
Contributions to Books
Late Glacial Environments and Paleoecology at Blackwater Draw, Near Clovis, New Mexico, U.S.A. (with F. Wendorf, P. Sears, and E. Papazian), Man-Millennia-Environment (2008)
Surficial Processes and Pleistocene Archaeology: Context, Landscape Evolution and Climate Change, Reconstructing Human-Landscape Interactions (2007)
Geologic Framework and Glaciation of the Central Area, Handbook of North American Indians (2006)
During the Late Pleistocene, the Laurentide ice sheet extended over the western interior Plains and...
Geologic Framework and Glaciation of the Eastern Area, Handbook of North American Indians (2006)
Late Pleistocene landscapes in glaciated eastern North America include changing ice margins, fluctuating lake and...
Geologic Framework and Glaciation of the Western Area, Handbook of North American Indians (2006)
The geological framework for western North America consists of physical landscapes (geomorphic features) and stratigraphic...
Presentations
Environmental Change in the Rocky Mountains of North America: Landscape Evolution and Historical Ecology, People and Nature in Mountains: Changing Land Use and Landscape Dynamics, Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (2011)
Quaternary Faunal Environments and Biogeography, On the Cutting Edge Workshop, Teaching Climate Change from the Geologic Record (2010)